Two sentenced to death for 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts

Hyderabad: A special court here on Monday sentenced two convicts to death and a third to life sentence for the 2007 Hyderabad twin bomb blasts which had claimed 42 lives.

The court had convicted them on September 4

Anique Shafiq Syed and Akbar Ismail Choudhary, the alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, were sentenced to death, while third convict Tariq Anjum was awarded life sentence.

Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge T. Srinivas Rao delivered the judgment at the high security Cherlapally Central Prison on the city’s outskirts.

Two powerful explosions had ripped through a popular eatery Gokul Chat and an open-air theatre at Lumbini Park, near State Secretariat, in Hyderabad on August 25, 2007 killing 42 people and wounding 68.

While 32 people were killed at Gokul Chat, 10 others lost their lives at Lumbini Park, in near-simultaneous blasts around 7.45 p.m that day.

An unexploded bomb was also recovered under a foot-over-bridge at Dilsukhnagar that night.

Public prosecutor Seshu Reddy told reporters that Anique and Akbar were awarded death sentence in three cases. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on them in each of the cases.

The court had convicted them on September 4.

Earlier in the day, the court held Tariq guilty of providing shelter to the other accused.

Two other accused, Farooq Sharfuddin and Sadiq Ahmed Sheikh, were acquitted last week for lack of evidence.